


Our Quiet Flame

by vaultboii



Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Camping, Friendship, Gen, Zine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 17:58:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17923625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaultboii/pseuds/vaultboii
Summary: Camping trips in the Scarlet Woods were fun -- well, as fun as you could get while trying to escape the Dark World.





	Our Quiet Flame

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the LIGHT AND DARK fanzine, which can be found here: https://deltazine.tumblr.com/

Inevitably, Ralsei was the first one to notice Kris lagging behind.

The camping trip had been a nice idea, yeah. The sound of hiking through Scarlet Forest made it a bit of a challenge to say yes to, yet still friendly enough that Kris didn’t immediately say no when Ralsei brought it up. Then Lancer had invited himself, and that meant Susie was coming along, and by that time Kris’ vote was one to four. But, hey. Kris couldn’t complain, even if the two bundles of mischief had dragged themselves along. It was  _ camping.  _ And Kris prided themselves on never missing a single day of camp.

_ And _ they were not tired, thank you very much. Sure, maybe their sword was dragging behind them and every second step was a stumble, but they were hardly exhausted. Just a wee bit drowsy from the previous night. Maybe a little weary from keeping up to Susie and Lancer’s pace. Kris could hardly call it tired.

(perhaps they had only gotten two hours of sleep. Hardly the point.)

But alas, the weariness was scanned furiously by Ralsei’s caring gaze. The next stumble did not go unnoticed. Nor did the next, or when Kris kicked a pebble against a tree by accident and the rock ricocheted off their armour. Ralsei looked on as they staggered forward again and halted. “Are you okay?” The little Shadow Prince asked.

Kris heaved the sword upright and did not look in the Shadow Prince’s eyes.

Which was as good as telling him Kris was close to passing out on the next step. “You’re tired!” Ralsei exclaimed. Half a field away, Lancer and Susie’s heads snapped up in recognition of weakness. “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you were just having trouble walking, I didn’t notice you were tired! I suppose you have been walking for a while --”

Kris waved the help away with one hand. “I’m fine,” they insisted.

By that time Susie and Lancer had lingered closer. The two troublemakers cackled once, and, with a flourish unmatched by the grace of a ballerina, Lancer scrambled forward to poke at Kris. “Aw, you look exhausted!” The little Spade sang. “Did our evil tricks before tire you out?”

Susie paused. The axe rested on the ground and the taller warrior bent down. “Huh,” she said. “Say, you do look like sh -”

“Hey, uncalled for,” Ralsei protested. Then, with gentleness matched only by Toriel, he looked to Kris. “You do look tired,” he said.

Which irked Kris. Granted, a lot of things tended to settle under their skin easily, but being the subject of three piercing gazes was unnerving _.  _ They could feel their temper already shunting straight to annoyance, something that would quickly lead to their growing irritation. Irritation gave them headaches. Kris could not handle staggering along with a pounding pulse beating drums in their mind.

_Calm down,_ something chanted quietly. _Peacefully._ _Think peacefully._

Reluctantly, Kris shrugged off the stares. “Not tired,” they lied.

“Hogwash,” Lancer said with conviction as Susie dropped another word that Kris had heard their mother say once when she had smashed a plate. “Hey, watch the tier swears!”

“Not tired,” they insisted again, sending a glare at all three of them. Susie didn’t bother looking, and Lancer’s smile fell a few watts lower. Of the three, Ralsei was the only one who matched their stubborn look, with a stare that reeked of concern. It reminded them so much of another glare that they had to look away. They set their eyes to the treeline. “Let’s go.”

“Alright, pipsqueak, but don’t slow us down,” Susie said. The group moved forward.

Kris took one step, and that’s when their legs had enough.

They crashed. Hard. Armour hit ground, and their sword’s blade sunk deep into soil as they hit the ground with a huff and took a knee. It was the equivalent of a somersault in full-armour. The world revolved, round and round. When it finally stopped spinning was when they decided to completely pass out.

For a few seconds. They came awake to the laughter of two absolute imbeciles, and the near-shrieks of one half-hysteric fluffy boy. “Guys,  _ stop laughing  _ and help me get Kris under this tree,” Ralsei’s voice pleaded somewhere from their right, and that’s when strong hands hoisted Kris up and led them weakly to their feet. Purple swayed to and fro in their vision. It was still laughing. “Kris! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Kris called out. They probably weren’t. “Tree root.” 

“Why are you so  _ tired _ ?” Susie’s voice snorted from the blur of purple, and her hands fell from supporting them. Kris felt their legs wobble. “All-nighter? You look like the nerd who spends all night reading  _ fiction _ .”

“Not tired,” they gritted out again, and then promptly fell over again. Yippee.

Susie laughed hard. Ralsei, too concerned to even formulate a sentence now, ducked down and lifted their arm around his shoulder. “Let’s set camp,” the prince insisted quickly. “Make a fire. Let Kris sleep.”

“I’m not --”

“Dude.” Susie squatted down by their useless attempts to get up, and laughed again. It held no mirth, only wicked glee. “Dude, you’re falling asleep right here and now. Conk out before you trip down a cliff. Or another Pon. Man, you should’ve seen the way you face-planted.”

Lancer had spent this entire time loudly cackling, but now he squatted down just like Susie and stuck his tongue out again. “Let’s do the ‘camping’ now, then! Kris can rest and we can burn logs ‘n roast Dark Candy. It’ll be like, Fun Gang time 2.0!” A shift, and then the little Spade glanced around widely, brimmed with excitement. “Where’s your axe? There was a plain of trees back there!”

Blue glinted as the axe unsheathed, and Susie grinned down at Lancer with too many teeth. “Let’s go, pal,” she snarled and then the two were off, running back the way they came with wicked laughter following them. 

Oh,  _ boy.  _ They had to help. Kris struggled to get back up. “Susie, Lancer --”

And Ralsei was there. Two soft hands rested on their shoulder-pads, worried. “No,” the Prince said softly. “You stay here and nap. We’ll set up a campfire, and I’ll uh, I’ll make sure they don’t cause too much trouble. No offense, but you might set yourself on fire at this rate.” One more pat, and then Ralsei stood up. “Sleep. I’ll wake you up when we’re done, ok?”

And then the fluffy friend was running off after Susie and Lancer. “Only dead trees!”

The tree was too comfy against their back. Ah, they must be really tired then to be calling trees comfy. In the fading of noise Kris heard a few loud cheers, and then the splitting of wood. Susie was cutting firewood. Hm. Better than guards, they supposed.

The world dulled at the edges.

Kris closed their eyes, and was sucked away by sleep.

▲

When they opened their eyes, the glade was unrecognizable.

Only because of the darkness, of course. Kris understood as soon as they opened their eyes why the people of this world called themselves Darkners. Vibrant, inky black had shrouded the forest in mystery, barely letting Kris see the edges of Susie nearby. Gone was the hue of scarlet from the trees. Gone was the brightness overhead. The entire Scarlet Forest had plunged into an abyss of black.

Which certainly shrouded Ralsei well enough. Enough that when a friendly hand fell on their shoulder Kris shot up as if tasered, and flung their entire weight at the poor prince. “Wait!” came the cry but it was too late, and Ralsei found himself under the crunch of metal. 

Twin cackles erupted.  _ Lancer’s cackle could work as an alarm _ , Kris thought tiredly.

“Ow.”

“Sorry.”

Armour peeled itself off the prince. Kris staggered upwards, and almost fell backwards, but they maintained on their feet. Praise to small miracles. Looking down at the sprawled Ralsei, they winced and offered a hand up. The Prince accepted; and like that, they were both upright and rubbing away at consequential bruises. 

Susie interrupted the entire scene with a snort. “So the Sleeping Beauty awakes,” she said, and Kris turned to only see the light of her blue axe gleaming in the darkness. “Five hours.  _ Nice _ .”

“Susie thought you died,” Lancer chirped in.

“ _ No _ , I did not.” The axe turned away, and Kris was left in the grip of night. “I thought Kris sleeps weird. Do you ever move when you sleep?” 

“I don’t think a person can answer how they sleep, Suz.”

“We were about to light the fire,” Ralsei interrupted, and Kris was grateful to hear his voice. Sanity was restored to the world. “Then Lancer yelled about how you were moving and we decided to hold it off to wake you. I guess that was a mistake?” There was a pause. “I’ll uh, announce next time I put my hand on your shoulder.”

Kris gave him a gracious nod.

Lancer’s blue bounced closer. “Well now since sleepyhead is awake, light the fire,” and a swish of air must’ve meant that the small one had gestured towards the unlit campfire, but Kris could not see a thing in the black night. “Come-on, Ralsei.”

An inhale of air came from Ralsei’s direction. “I’m not lighting it,” the healer hissed slowly. 

“Pipsqueak, we were over this. It’s a  _ small  _ fire --”

“It’s a large fire! Huge! You guys added too much wood!”

A barking laugh that sounded a lot like Susie came from behind Kris. “You wanted a fire,” the monster smugly said, and a clang filled the glade. Another chunk of something (hopefully wood) found its way on a pile. “You got a fire.”

“I wanted a  _ small  _ fire.” Ralsei pleaded. “Not something that could burn this entire forest down! Are you sure the hole in the ground is deep enough to hold the flame?”

Kris decided the best way to deal with this was to roll with it. Pattering closer, their eyes finally noticed Lancer, stained in dirt and grit, but beaming wider than the human had ever seen him before. “I dug the hole all by  _ my _ self,” the Spade announced loudly. “It’s fine. Perfect.  _ Beautiful. _ ”

“Damn right it is.”

“Hoo boy,” Ralsei puffed out a huff and adjusted nervously. “Okay.  _ Okay _ . But I’m not answering to the King if we burn down Scarlet Forest.”

“We won’t.”

“Maybe.” 

Kris said nothing, and awaited the inevitable explosion to occur.

Ralsei lived up to his skill, however. The fire did not burst; a small spark licked the edge of a pit and flared up to the first log. Green swayed back and forth tasting the tip of wood before it caught, and with a vibrant hum, colour shot up into the sky illuminating the sway of trees around them. The glow caught each shine of red leaves, turning the sky crimson and swirling.

“Dayum,” Susie admired.

Kris had to agree. The campfires with their family hadn’t been this bright or friendly, just embers of red flame that struggled to ignite under Asgore’s hands until Toriel helped. Yet, as they stared at the blazing green flames, a trickle of homesickness rose in their stomach all the same. They gave Ralsei a small thumbs-up (it was impressive) and slowly slunk to a sit. Lancer flopped down beside them, and Ralsei joined them after checking that the glade wouldn't burn down around them. The group huddled together, and enjoyed the new warmth.

Except Susie was left standing alone. The monster looked at their snugness, and made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat. “Oh, yes, all cozy and nice on the ground,” she mumbled. “Just  _ reeking  _ of warmth down here, ain’t it.”

“Come closer to the fire then,” Ralsei insisted. “I brought blankets for a reason.”

“And closer to you losers? I don’t think so.”

That got the little one’s attention. “Am I a loser?” Lancer asked quietly, still as bright but with hesitation embedded in the tone. He was eyeing the fire as if it would leap out and nip at him. With a hum of understanding, Ralsei scooted closer and smiled friendly at the wary Spade. An orange blanket found its way to drape over him. 

There was a pause. Susie moved closer and sat down, close enough to flick Lancer on the nose. “Nah,” she said. “You’re  _ cool _ .”

Lancer beamed.

There were no more words to be said after. Green danced up to the red whirlpool of leaves overhead, and the cool night sky shone down. In the crinkle of rocking branches Lancer’s breathing embedded slower and slower, until all Kris felt against their knee was the murmur of sleep against their knees. They patted him once, then floundered for a pillow behind them. Asriel had told them once their knees were too bony to rest on. With armour would probably mean a stiff neck. Kris didn’t need to subject Lancer to the fate of a pained morning.

They lifted his head. Susie watched, wary. “Little guy asleep?” Not waiting for a response, she leaned forward and one taloned hand poked Lancer gently. When the Darkner did not stir, a snicker escaped the monster and she leaned back. “Tuckered out. What a  _ nerd _ . Didn’t even get to see if Dark Candy tasted like s’mores if roasted.”

The flames flickered. Green lit up the edges of Ralsei’s face, and the Darkner, perhaps a reflex, pulled his hat down lower. “You know it’ll just melt in his hands,” he scolded. “He’d hurt himself.”

“It’d be a good melt. Pain would be total worth. Taste like heaven.”

“She’s right,” Kris said softly.

Both turned to look at them, eyes wide. In their gaze Kris saw fondness, and felt red streak into their ears. Thank the stars for bangs and thank the stars it was dark. However, their embarrassment was easily read, for Ralsei giggled and put a hand on Kris’ shoulder. 

“You quiet losers are always full of surprises,” Susie scoffed. Her grin was playful.

“Good surprises,” Ralsei added, still gleeful. 

Kris put their hands over their ears and scowled at his betrayal. 

The teasing stopped there though. The main bully found herself distracted by the sky, and with an exhale, the monster leaned back into the blankets next to the slumbering spade. Kris blinked, lowered their hands and after a brief consideration, joined her. Following her eyes they looked up to where stars usually lined the night sky, but nothing showed. The bleak black of abyss edged the treeline. Ever so often a streak of blue flared through it, a shot of colour clashing with the crimson glade.

Susie softly chuckled. “Looks nothing like home, eh? Too dark.” So close to her, Kris could hear how she drew the words between crooked teeth. “You guys got no stars. Looks lonely up there. Man, you guys really are  _ Darkners _ .”

Kris shook their head. Ralsei paused next to them, and laid down. His eyes were soft. “We get our light in other ways,” the prince said quietly.

“Oh, god, here comes the sap.”

“Yeah you know, it’s usually lonely here in the night. King never thought it was necessary to have stars. So, black it was.” Ralsei blinked slowly, then continued on. “I haven’t had a campfire with anyone since...well, since never I suppose. King never liked those either.” The prince drew both hands together. “Always liked how they were written in books though. Campfire songs, singing, dancing,” and a wishful sigh came from him. “I would like that.”

“No banjos, please,” Susie commented and adjusted both hands behind her head. “Asgore scarred me enough. Remember his Twinkle-Twinkle version?”

Kris unfortunately did.

“Yeah, I guess.” Ralsei shrugged, and turned to Kris. “But, seriously. Thank you for being here. It’s been...fun.”

“God, if I knew these campfires would’ve been this sappy I should’ve run,” Susie said offhandedly. Kris turned to give her a look, and found her studying the sky intently avoiding all gazes. “Eh. Should’ve known losers like you cry over fires. But, you know -- you’re stuck with the Fun Gang until we, uh, go. Yeah.”

Ralsei blinked, and rotated until he was staring at Susie. There was a small smile. Kris themselves had to raise an eyebrow at Susie. The monster found herself the centre of attention immediately, and flushed a violet beet. “Ay, piss off.” She snarled and the giggles Ralsei had were too contagious for Kris to not chuckle themselves. “Oh  _ piss off  _ the both of ya, I’m going to throw both of you into the fire --”

“So much for leaving the sappy campfire, huh?” 

“Oh, that’s it,” and Susie rolled to wrestle Kris into the blankets. A pillow came up and struck, and Kris came out coughing and cackling. “Sap  _ this _ , you irritating little fleshbag.”

“You guys are going to wake up Lancer,” Ralsei hissed, half-amused, and they both froze to stare at the still slumbering spade. The little prince of the kingdom only hummed and turned in his orange blanket, not responding. 

Crisis averted.

Susie released Kris from her grip and slumped back. “Watch yourself,” she jeered. “Just you wait. If Lancer wasn’t sleeping I’d --”

Kris only smiled and leaned back. Susie flipped them the infamous bird.

“As fun as this has been, I think I’m calling it a night.” Ralsei gestured for a pillow himself, and was immediately socked by Susie’s lazy throw. Feathers spread everywhere, and the fluffy boy came up with a sour look. “Ow. Thanks.”

“No problemo.” Susie threw a blanket towards Kris. “Aight, sleepyhead, it’s nap time, night nighty, need a lullaby?”

“Oh, quit teasing them.”

The glade settled down. Ralsei lowered the green flames, and crimson leaves turned to deep scarlet overhead. The darkness embedded closer, but this time, Kris found it friendly. Sleep danced at the corners of their vision.  _ Man.  _ Maybe they had been tired earlier. Just a bit.

“Good night, losers.”

“Good night, Susie.”

The three heroes slept.


End file.
